Apex Legends Is Finally Making Finishers Worthwhile

The new season of Apex Legends just dropped, and buried in the update's lengthy list of changes and additions is one that should make the most fiendish players cackle with glee: every Legend now has the Executioner perk, meaning successful finishers give you a full shield recharge.

The Executioner change leads the list of Apex's meta changes in the Season 3 update notes. Now that every Legend always gets their shields topped up for a finisher, the moves are now far more than a way to style on your opponents. Especially in Apex's early rounds when folks haven't loaded up on ammo and shield cells, doing a finisher could net you a completed kill andand refresh your extra protection layer when you'd otherwise be just as at-risk by punching or shooting a downed enemy to death.

Previously, the Executioner perk was limited to the Legendary (gold) body shield, which grants 100 shield health to wearers just like the Epic (purple) body shield. Since finishers take a few seconds to play out and leave you exposed during use, many players simply ignored the perk while using Legendary shields, especially in the late-game. Why would you risk it for the recharge when you can move to cover and pop a few shield cells instead?

Since Legendary body shields need some kind of sweetener to make them better than the Epic variety, they've taken the perk from a different piece of Legendary loot. Now gold shields have the Fast Use perk, which speeds up the amount of time it takes to use healing items. Fast Use was previously the perk assigned to the Legendary backpack, which now has a brand-new Guardian Angel perk which grants bonus shields and health to downed teammates upon revival.

While the new World's Edge map and Crypto are Season 3's highest-profile additions to Apex Legends, the full patch notes list tons of small tweaks and additions that could shake up the game's meta in considerable ways. For more information on what's new in Apex Legends, check out USG's Season 3 guide.